Profile of the Day: Margaret Mitchell

Award-winning author Margaret Mitchell was born on this day in 1900. Remembered as the author of the literary classic, Gone With the Wind, Mitchell would only publish one novel during her lifetime.

Image: Margaret Mitchell / Library of Congress

Mitchell was born on November 8, 1900 in Atlanta, Georgia to a wealthy and prominent family. Both of Mitchell’s grandfather’s served in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. Her paternal grandfather, Russell Crawford Mitchell, was severely wounded during the Battle of Sharpsburg and after the war, made his fortune supplying lumber for the rebuilding of Atlanta. Her maternal grandfather, Philip Fitzgerald, served as Captain and became a prosperous real estate developer. 

Mitchell first began writing Gone With the Wind in 1926 while recovering from a broken ankle. When she finally published the book in 1936, it became an instant hit and made Mitchell a celebrity. Set in Georgia during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era, Gone With the Wind captured the attention of readers immediately. By the next year, Mitchell was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The phenomenal success of the book was followed by a big screen adaptation, just three years after the novel’s first publication. Gone With the Wind starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh would become a Hollywood classic and one of the top grossing films in American cinema.

Sadly, Gone With the Wind would be Mitchell’s final work. While crossing the street in Atlanta with her husband, Mitchell was struck by a speeding car. She died from her injuries five days later on August 16, 1949 at the age of 48.

Explore Margaret Mitchell’s family tree on Geni and share how you’re related to the author.

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